Bottle-stopper and measuring device



(No Model.) P. W. WEST.

BOTTLE STOPPER AND MEAsURING-DEVIGB.

No. 476,342. Patented June 7, 1892.

Nrrnn STATES n'rnNfr Brice.

BOTTLE-STOPPER AND MEASURlNG DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 476,342, dated J' une 7, 1892.

Application filed November 24, 1891. Serial No, 412,972. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FoRRnsT WHITNEY WEST, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a certain new and Improved Bottle- Stopper and Measuring Device, of which the following is a specification.

The principal object of my present invention 1s to provide a stopper adapted to tightly fit and close the neck of a bottle, and having the parts thereof constructed and arranged for operation with relation to each other in such manner that the bottle having the stopper tted into the neck thereof may be inverted and the air gradually forced from the stopper into the bottle to permit of the introduction of a measured quantity of the contents of the bottle into the stopper, whereupon the bottle maybe returned to normal position, and the stopper containing the required amount of liquid may be removed and lts contents readily discharged into the mouth of a sick infant or person.

My invention consists of the improvements hereinafter described and claimed.

The nature and characteristic features of the present invention will be more fully understood from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, forming part hereof, and in which- Figure l is a perspective view of a bottle provided with a stopper embodying features of my invention and arranged to receive a measured quantity of liquid from the bottle. Fig. 2 is a like view of the same, illustrating the operation of inverting the bottle and forc ing air from the stopper into the bottle in order to permit a measured quantity of the contents of the latter to flow into the former; and Fig. 3 is a detached perspective view of the stopper, showing the construction thereof and illustrating the mode of discharging the liquid from the same.

In the drawings, a is a bottle of the usual or of any other p referred configuration.

l) is a stopper, comprising a handle b and a shank or plug b2, adapted to iit and close the neck of the bottle. It is important that this shank or plugl)2 should not extend or project into the interior of the body portion of the bottle for reasons hereinafter fully explained.

b3 is a tubular passage formed in the interior of the shank or plug band communicating at the lower portion thereof with the interior of thebottle a and at the upper portion thereof with a receptacle or chamber h4, formedin the handle l2 of the stopper. This receptacle or chamber b4 is closed bya yielding, elastic, and resilient diaphragm c, attached to an annular recess h5, formed upon the exterior of the upper portion of the handle h', by means of a cord or string, so as to form an airtight jointbetween the stopper and diaphragm.

The Inode of operation of the hereinbeforedescribed stopper is as follows: The bottle is filled nearly but not quite full with the required liquid-for example, medicine-and the shank or plug Z22 of the stopper is fitted into the neck d of the bottle, Fig. l, in the usual manner and serves in connection with the diaphragm c to close the bottle and exclude the air of the atmosphere from its contents. In use, however, it becomes necessary or desirable to draw od a portion or dose of the medicine or other liquid, and this result may be readily accomplished by first inverting the bottle and stopper, as shown in Fig. 2, and then repeatedly depressing the diaphragm c, whereby air is forced from the stopper past the contents of the bottle into the space at the top thereof, as vindicated at d, whereby the liquid flows gradually from the bottle into the stopper. The capacity of the chamber or receptacle b4 may be made to correspond to any desired measurement-for example, a tea, dessert, or tablespoon-and in such case the stopper is completely filled, so that the dose may be accurately measured even in the dark. However, in some instances, a receptacle b4 of comparatively large capacity is employed, and in such cases the wall of the stopper is provided with an index-scale h6, Fig. l, graduated to correspond with or measure a tea, dessert, or tablespoonful of the liquid material or substance, so that a portion of the contents of the bottle may be drawn off into the stopper in the manner above described until the quantity contained in the stopper corresponds with the contents of a tea, dessert, or table spoon, as indicated by the scale h6. In this IOO connection it may be remarked that the Whole ofthe contents of thebottle may be drawn off in the manner above described and in measured doses or quantities, because the plug b2 of the stopper cannot extend above the level of the liquid in the bottle even when the latter is partially empty and inverted.

The measured contents of the handle of the stopper may be discharged by removing the stopper from the bottle, Fig. 3, and then causing the contents of the chamber or receptacle b4 to be discharged through the channel h3, as indicated at e, by depressing the diaphragm c.

The hereinbeforedescribed stopper may be advantageously employed in connection with many of the useful arts; but it is especially adapted for chemists or druggists use, because a druggist in putting up or bottling a physicians prescription can cork or stop the bottle with a stopper having a chamberor receptacle b4 corresponding in capacity with the required dose, and the patient or nurse in charge of the patient may accurately and quickly measure and administer the required dose Without danger of spilling the contents of the bottle and with the avoidance of error in the size or quantity of the dose. Moreover, the hereinbeforedescribed stopper serves as a medicine-glass and is normally in the bottle to which it appertains, so that in emergencies no time need be lost in looking for a medicine-glass or other measuring device for administering the required dose.

Having thus described the nature and objects of my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- In combination, a bottle and a detachable tubular stopper provided at the top thereof with an elastic diaphragm and havingaplug fitting the neck of the bottle, the construction being such that the stopper may be Wholly or partly filled by the inversion of the stopper and bottle and repeated depression of the diaphragm, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my signature in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

FORREST XVHITNEY VEST.

Vitnesses:

THOMAS M. SMITH, RICHARD C. MAXWELL. 

